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Environment and Security 46 /
18 Protocol No. 413 of the Meeting of Scientific-Technical Council
of the Ministry of Land Reclamation and Water Management of
the USSR, held on February 7, 1984 in Moscow, provided water
distribution limits for the Syr Darya river (PA Consortium Group
and PA Consulting, 2002 : Wegerich, 2005)
19 Annual agreements as well as the Long Term Framework Agree-
ment in March 1998
20 See Sodik Muminov and Vladislav Poplavsky. “Uzbekistan’s
lakes: benefit or harm?” in (UNEP/GRID-Arendal, 2003) as well
as coverage from ENVSEC media training in Tashkent in 2004 at
21 Source: IRIN, available at
gyzGroundwater.html
22 ibid
23 Irrigation water is allocated among water basin authorities ac-
cording to quotas decided by the Ministry of Agriculture and Water
Resources of Uzbekistan. A board (inspectorate) at the Ministry is
set to verify that water users respect the quotas, it can otherwise
impose administrative sanctions
24 For example the Tajik TadAZ aluminium smelter in Tursunzade,
Tajikistan, is the biggest enterprise in the country (EBRD, 2003)
and a strategic source of hard currency. The Uzbek copper smelter
in Almalyk and a ferrous metallurgy plant in Bekabad are also im-
portant players in both export trade and local job creation. On the
environmental aspects of these industries see Sodik Muminov and
Vladislav Poplavsky, “To save what is left” in (UNEP/GRID-Arendal
2003a) and coverage from ENVSEC media training in Tashkent in
2004. Available at: ,
25 In 1958 tailing pond n° 7 in Mailuu-Suu broke, releasing about
600,000 cubic metres of radioactive materials into the river. The
radioactive mudflow caused widespread destruction and contami-
nation of huge areas. (Aleksei Ermolov, “Atomic strongholds of the
Tien Shan” in (UNEP/GRID-Arendal, 2003; additional information
can be found under Ferghana valley in (UNEP/GRID-Arendal,
2003a, available at ). Most
recently, on 13 April 2005, a landslide hit an area surrounding
Mailuu-Suu, blocking the river (IRIN, available at http://www.
electCountry=KYRGYZSTAN)
26 A similar example, but on a national scale, is the cyanide spill into
a tributary of the Issyk-Kul lake in Kyrgyzstan on 20 May 1998. Panic
ensued due to the lack of reliable public information on the impacts of
these chemicals, how far they travel and possible effects on the health
of the lake. Local agriculture and tourismsuffered losses. “Regardless
of whether all these fears were warranted, the social and economic
consequences of the panic were quite real” (Norlen, 2000)
27 Three tailings ponds near the Sumsar River containing 4.5 m
tonnes of radioactive uranium rock, lead, and toxic heavy metal
salts have been partially eroded allowing a constant inflow of heavy
metal pollutants.The SanitationAuthority of Kyrgyzstan reports that
the river’s manganese level is nine times higher and the cadmium
content 320 times higher than the maximum permissible concen-
trations (neither of these elements can be flushed from the human
body).There are eight radioactive waste dumps in Shekaftar, seven
of which are located near apartment blocks. Sources: Daniil Kysh-
tobayev, “Uranium Waste In Kyrgyzstan” (“Слово Кыргызстана”,
01.07.1994) in Environmental Policy Review, Winter 1994, Vol.
8, No. 2, p. 15; “Radioactive spots on the map of Kyrgyzstan”
(“Радиоактивные точки на карте Кыргызстана”. – “Деловой
мир”, 03.06.1997)
28 Preliminary results of sampling by the Institute of Physics of the
Tajik Academy of Science, 2004
29 Following Uzbekistan’s National Environmental Action Plan for
1999-2005, the State Committee for Nature Protection carries out re-
habilitation work in the Charkesar area with UNDP’s co-financing
30 Sumsar Ore Management Authority mined and processed
complex-ore: zinc, copper, lead and cadmium (Djenchuraev,
1999: 34)
31 This plant, on the border between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan,
mined lead and zinc ore from 1950 to 1971. The risks are in rela-
tion to its tailing impoundment which, according to Djenchuraev
(1999: 28) has not been rehabilitated
32 The Almalyk plant is actually in the Tashkent region, however the
pollution coming from this operation is a source of concern in the
Tajik part of the Ferghana valley
33 According to records of the State Committee for Environmental
Protection and Forestry of Tajikistan, in 1992 Tajikistan evaluated
the damage from an oil spill in Uzbekistan as 600,000 roubles.
There was formal communication between the two countries.
Pollution from oil production was named to ENVSEC as a concern
by environmental authorities in Dushanbe
34 Sources: ECHO and official national data
35 There are many glaciers and glacial lakes in the high altitude
areas. A recent study shows that in the mountains surrounding the
Ferghana valley there are over 100 glacial lakes featuring potential
outburst flood (GLOF) risks, and other dangerous situations, such